


Strawberry

by Hazmatqueen



Category: Midnight Poppy Land (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Memories, Past to Present
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25534480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazmatqueen/pseuds/Hazmatqueen
Summary: Tora and Poppy have been together officially for 6 months. Tora's work has kept him busy and they have not been able to see each other for about a month. Poppy visits her gran to occupy her time and is sent home with 2 boxes full of photos. Poppy and Tora have a date night and end up taking a trip down memory lane.
Relationships: Tora/Poppy Wilkes
Comments: 33
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know there is some debate on how old Poppy is in the Ares Street Kings picture (if it is Poppy at all) so for my story I have made her 13. It's how I could make the story make sense to me. 
> 
> I mention a park that is completely made up called Moonbeam. 
> 
> This work has NOT been beta read. If you notice anything with spelling or grammar I am sorry, I wanted this to be a surprise for people. I am dyslexic and things slip through the cracks sometimes. Let me know if I should continue with the story or not. Thanks for all of your kind words on my last work. I hope you enjoy this one too.

They sat at Poppy’s dining table. They had officially been seeing each other for just over 6 months now, even though for most of that time they had not been able to meet in person often. Tora’s work had gotten increasingly more time consuming as the conflict with the Nine Dragons escalated. Tonight was the first night in 4 weeks they had been able to see each other. Poppy made Spaghetti for dinner along with homemade garlic bread. 

In the last 4 weeks to occupy her time, Poppy had gone back to Moonbright to visit her Gran over one weekend. Her Gran had sent her home with 2 bankers boxes full of photos, all of which depicted different moments from her childhood. Many featuring her dad and with the anniversary of his death coming up in the next month, Poppy decided it would be a good way to honor him by making different scrap books for each year. Needless to say, all of the free surfaces in her apartment were littered with photos. Sticky Notes next to each pile labeled the year and the event or reason why the photos were taken. Tora observed some of the photos that were sitting next to him. Poppy was standing next to what looked like a brand new bike, a huge smile on her face and her dad's arm was slung around her shoulder. He looked like he was beaming with pride. 

Tora picked up the photo, and studied it closely. “That was my 12th birthday. I had wanted a mountain bike so bad! All of my cousins had them and some of the other kids in the neighborhood had them as well.” She smiled at the memory. “I had asked for one the year before but my mom had just left, so my dad struck me a deal. If I did odd jobs around the house, and the neighborhood and saved up half, he would get me one.” 

“I worked all summer and fall mowing lawns, pulling weeds and raking leaves, and I managed to save up $500.00. Honestly I think it was one of the most valuable lessons my dad ever taught me.”

Wordlessly, Tora set down the photo, making sure to put it back where he found it. In the pile next to it he picked up another photo. Poppy seemed to be a little bit older, with the same bike and her cousins on their bikes flanking either side of her. He noticed that in this one her bike had now had a strawberry bell attached to the handlebars. Strawberry bell, why did that tug at his memory. He picked it up, “What about this one?” she took it from his hand, she swallowed the bite of spaghetti she had just taken before speaking. 

“This one was the following summer, Mirabelle, Danae and I decided to bike into the woods just outside Moonbright that day. Well, actually they decided that they wanted to go riding in the woods that day. I was just a tag along at that point. Mirabelle was 16 and Danae was 15 at the time and were in charge of me while my dad was at work. I was definitely the annoying younger cousin.”

“Why did they want to go into the woods that day?” Tora observed the makeup and the clothes the two older girls were wearing. They seemed a little overdressed to be going for a bike ride in the woods.  
Poppy rolled her eyes. “Why else would two high school girls drag their younger cousin along with them? Boys! Mirabelle had been hanging out at a picnic area with some of her friends sometime earlier that week when she noticed a group of guys hanging out, skateboarding and messing around. Before she had worked up the courage to go and talk to them they got into a white van and left. She was so insistent to go back to Moonbeam park everyday, just to see if they were there.” 

The string being tugged in Toras memory was pulled even harder at the mention of Moonbeam park. “Skateboarding and a white van you say? How many guys were there do you think?” 

“Oh, I am not sure it’s been nearly 10 years since then. They were all a little older than Mirabelle though, they were probably seniors, and they weren’t from Moonbright. That is why Mirabelle was so insistent on trying to meet them. Saying there were no ‘cute guys’ and they all looked so ‘mysterious.’ One of the guys had a leg Tattoo though, and she was head over heels for him. I think the tattoo was of a woman wearing a baseball cap. I’m not sure… It's been so long.” Poppy shrugged.

He had his fork lifted halfway to his mouth when the memory finally clicked into place. He dropped his fork and snatched the photo from Poppy’s hand. He looked closely at the two older girls and then again at the younger version of Poppy. He couldn't believe it, after all this time, nearly a decade, they had been reunited without even realizing it. Trevor had been the one with the leg tattoo and he remembered how “Belle” had done her best to get Trevor’s attention. He remembered how the older girls hung around and how the younger girl was shy and held back. He remembered how the younger girl always used to carry drinks and snacks in her backpack. He remembered thinking she was nice and caring, and if she had been a few years older, she would have been really cute. Hell she was the reason he liked strawberry juice so much, they were his favorite fruit and he hadn’t known it existed until one day she handed him one. He remembered how she had scraped her knees.

“Did you ever take a jump on a dare?” Tora asked her. 

“Yes, actually. I didn’t land it right and scraped up both of my knees really bad.One of the boys was really nice and helped me. How did you know?”

“Poppy, I was that boy, we’ve met before.”

He couldn’t believe it, he had found her. His strawberry girl.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8 Years ago... Poppy and her cousins talk about going to the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am basing all events as if they are happening in 2012. The Galaxy s3 was the number 1 phone that year.
> 
> This chapter is really, really, really short. I am seriously so so sorry about that, I am having a weird week (like is Mercury in retrograde or something, serious question). This chapter has also not been beta read, I beg your forgiveness on that. I wanted to get something out so that you all didn't think I abandoned this FanFic! Let me know what you think or if I should change anything
> 
> Also! Shout out to anyone who loves Schitt's Creek and/or Sarah J Maas! (If you catch the references you are my favorite human right now.)

Roughly 8 years earlier

“Danae, you will not believe what just happened!” Mirabelle said barging through Poppy’s bedroom door. Both Poppy and Danae looked up from what they were doing as she spoke. Danae had been painting her toenails and Poppy had been reading. “Whats up? Did Luke try and text you again?” Danae asked. Her sister had been seeing one of the most popular guys in school until the very beginning of summer. He had dumped her for some other girl named Stacy, but realized it had been a big mistake and had been texting her for the last week trying to win her back. Luke had a younger brother who was Poppy’s age named Julri and Stacy had a younger sister named Mimi who was a year younger than Julri and Poppy. 

“Ew, Danae. No, well I mean yes, but that isn't the point. There were some new guys hanging out at Moonbeam park!” She sat down on Poppy’s bed and grabbed one of the many stuffed animals (a tiger) and hugged it tightly to her chest. “They were all so good looking, and they all had this ‘bad boy’ vibe to them. There is absolutely no way they were from Moonbright! They all had skateboards, they were smoking, and OMG some of them…” Mirabelle paused for a moment, looking around the room as if to make sure no one was listening, then whispered “Some of them even had TATTOOS!” Then she squealed and flopped over on her back kicking her legs in the air in excitement. 

Danae eyes widened at the statement. Tattoos were not seen often in Moonbright and with both her and Mirabelle being the “rebellious” sort, they instantly knew that they wanted to know more about the new boys in town. Poppy, while having just turned 13 that spring, had not fully developed an interest in boys yet… well at least an interest in boys that were not fictional characters. Sure she thought they were cute, and some of them were really nice but she was way too shy to even try and talk to them. Not that she was really shy, but she wouldn’t know what to say… would she just walk up to someone and say “Hi, I’m Poppy and I really like Pikachu, do you want to share a strawberry juice?” No, no, absolutely not that would be far too awkward. 

“OMG Belle, did you get the chance to talk to them?!” Danae asked, closing the nail-polish she had been using. “No, but, I heard one of them say they should come back tomorrow. I have every intention of being there tomorrow. You need to come with me Danae.” The sisters locked eyes and made an unspoken agreement, that no matter what, they would speak to those boys. They smiled broadly at each other. But their smiles quickly faded as they both glanced at Poppy. 

Poppy had been pretending not to listen but had noticed the attention in the room land on her. She glanced up from the book she had been reading. It was just getting to a good part too, the female assassin that was rescued by the prince to compete in a tournament was about to win the final challenge despite being drugged right before it began. “What?” She asked them. They were both looking directly at her. 

“Poppy, would you want to go for a bike ride tomorrow?” Mirabelle asked her sweetly. Poppy rolled her eyes. Even though she was 13, her dad insisted on her cousins hanging out with her when he wasn’t home. “Fine, I’ll go and I won't tell dad.” She thought for a moment “but you have to promise to buy me some snacks and strawberry juice to have while we’re there. Also you have to let me read in peace while we are there.” She said sticking her nose back in her book.  
Mirabelle squealed again, “Oh thank you Poppy! I promise you won't regret this! You are the best cousin a girl could ask for! You may be even better than my own sister!” She said tossing the tiger aside and wrapping her arms around Poppy in a quick tight hug.” Danae rolled her eyes and went back to painting her nails. 

“Now all we have to do is decide what we are going to wear” Mirabelle pulling out her brand new Galaxy s3, opening the Pinterest app to try and get ideas.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mirabelle and Danae talk Poppy into a "girls day" before meeting the mysterious boys. 
> 
> The man with the tattoo, he 100% has the Balthuman org. Tattoo.
> 
> This is another pretty short chapter. I am sorry. Short chapters are what I have bandwidth for. Please forgive me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My husband beta read this one, though he said it was good im not sure. If you have any suggestions for the next chapter, let me know! Truly constructive feedback is how we improve. 
> 
> I'm sorry this is so short, I am failing at the writing right now. 
> 
> I also am a huge fan of the theory that Poppy's mom is somehow part of a mob group and that her dad worked for the cops, so that is where some of this but of the story is coming from.
> 
> I am not a huge fan of Poppy and Julri together, but because it is mentioned in the first episode that they were high school sweethearts, poppy had to have met him pretty early in her life. Or at least known about him he is mentioned in this chapter as an implied crush. 
> 
> As always thanks so much for reading such a silly story!

The next morning Poppy woke up to her cousins barging into her room. Her dad must have left for the day because it was already 9:30. “Poppy what are you doing still in bed? Get up!” Mirabelle said trying to rip the covers off of her. Poppy held tight to her sheets as she tried to barry herself deeper into them. “Fudge biscuits Belle! Its summer break, 9:30 is too early!” Poppy complained rolling over to try and hide from the sun streaming through her now open window. 

“No Poppy, we have to go get our nails done and then go shopping before we go to Moonbeam! I told your dad we were going to have a girls day so he left you some cash for getting a mani-pedi. Get your ass up, we have some beautifying to do.” 

Poppy groaned and sat up slowly. She didn’t get it, why get all dressed up just to ride bikes at the skatepark? “Why do we have to do this?” she said with a yawn. “I don’t even know how to talk to boys! And I am probably too young anyway, why are you bringing me along?” 

Danae spoke up then, “This will be good practice for you, build your confidence before you start high school. Also, we promised your dad we would hang out with you this summer so you have to come with us.”

Building her confidence? Poppy didn’t need that, she needed cousins who would let her read in peace. Though her dad had let them be in charge of her this summer and last, she wondered if he felt bad. Normally summer break was when her and her mom got a chance to really “bond”. If she could really call it bonding. 

The last summer she had spent with her mom had been fun, to an extent, but she knew even then, that her mom was drifting away. Poppy’s memory flashed to the day they had spent at the pool. She had spent all day working up the courage to jump off of the high dive. She hadn’t done it before, but had always wanted to. Poppy had hovered in the water next to her friends for most of the day all of them had jumped the summer before, but Poppy tended to err on the side of caution. 

That summer though would be the year she finally did it. When she made her way to the diving board she crossed in front of the chair that her mom was sitting in to try and snag her attention. Her mom briefly glanced up from the book she was reading and gave poppy a half smile. Poppy could tell she wasn’t really paying much attention to her. Still though, she walked up to the ladder to climb the diving board. The climb was the worst part, the higher Poppy realized all 4ft 7in of her were from the ground. Her heart raced and when she made it to the top, her friends were cheering her on and her mom… while her mom was talking to some man she had never seen before. The man had a tattoo on his arm and they seemed to be having a somewhat serious conversation. How could her mom not be paying attention to her? Poppy’s fear evaporated to anger as she watched her mom talk to some random guy. Poppy’s friends screamed in excitement from the pool. Poppy flushed and screamed at the top of her lungs “Cannon Ball!!!” in an attempt to draw her mother's attention. It wasn't until poppy was hitting the water that her mother noticed her. 

“Poppy” Danae was snapping her fingers in her face “Poppy come on!!! Snap out of it! We know it's early but we got to go!” She had gotten lost in her memory. Pressing the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to wake up just a little bit more she finally said “Fine, fine, i’ll get up but you guys owe me big time for not telling my dad. You know he doesn't like us hanging out with people he doesn't know. Especially as a detective with the Moonbright PD, not that anything happens here...but still.”

Mirabelle finally succeeded in tearing the blankets off of Poppy’s bed, stripping away any last bit of comfort she had for that day. “Go shower, thank you so much Poppy. You won’t regret this.”

Poppy knew she would regret something about that day. Her gut was trying to tell her something as she reluctantly got out of bed. Though, she wasn’t sure what exactly it was trying to tell her. She placed her feet on the floor and padded to the connecting bath room. She closed and locked the door behind her. Braising her hands on either side of the sink she said to herself. “If you can jump off the high dive, you can talk to a boy…” She closed her eyes and breathed in deep. “If you can talk to boys you can finally talk to Julri.” She opened her eyes and saw that they showed a new sense of determination in them. This was it, she had the courage, she would not back down.


	4. Chapter 4.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *not beta read*
> 
> The girls go shopping, so they can dress to impress. Poppy gives 0 fudge biscuits and only wants to read Trone of glass. Also earlier confidence of talking to boys is totally gone. Meet me under the tree with strawberry juice and a good book.  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> Crap, this story is crap but I am extremely stubborn so one of these days, weeks from now I'll give you all more chapters and eventually an ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zumiez, Tilly', Forever21... Please forgive me as I relive my alternative/emo high school/ college years.

They walked around the mall for what seemed like hours. She watched her cousins try on what seemed like everything that was available to them at forever21. “Poppy, can you come and zip this up?” Danae said as she walked out of the dressing room. She was wearing a dress… A DRESS of all things when they were supposed to be going to the skate park… This was so impractical, Poppy thought to herself as she zipped up the short sleeved flowing dress. In the same instant Mirabelle came out of her dressing room with the same dress on, only in a different color. 

Poppy had to talk the girls out of wearing dresses, stating that they were riding the mountain bikes and that wearing a dress would not be practical. Also, if these boys were into skateboarding and other things of that nature, they may want to wear pants and tennis shoes “in case they wanted to try out one of the boards”, Poppy had reasoned. Poppy was regretting this suggestion quickly as it led her cousins to think that they needed to dress the part of “Skater girl” dragging her to Vans and Zumiez. If they had not found the red “Obay” t-shirt for Mirabelle, they would have wound up at Tilly’s and then PacSun. Poppy was spared by some miracle though. 

At this point it was noon, but poppy was regretting agreeing to this. She wanted nothing more than to go home and read Throne of Glass, take a nap and watch anime. She loved riding her bike with her friends and cousins, but this? She could do without. “Can we go now?” Poppy asked as they left Zumiez. “Yep, also, here you go Pops” Mirabelle said as she handed her a white t-shirt with a strawberry pattern on it. “I thought it would look cute, and would match with the bell on your handle bars.” 

Poppy groaned internally. She was going because she had to, she had had a false sense of confidence when they left the house earlier that day, but there was no way she would be talking to any of those guys. She would find a tree and sit far enough away and pretend that they didn't exist. “Listen, Belle, I am not sure how comfortable I am doing this. I know that I already agreed to go with you but I am going to keep my distance while we are there.” Poppy stated flatly. She didn't want to dress up or impress anyone. That was for Belle and Danae. Danae rolled her eyes “Suit yourself poppy. Just stay where we can see you. Let's go back to your house and change. We have to get to the park by 2.”

Back at Poppy’s house, the older 2 girls got ready, Mirabelle wore black jeans with holes already in them and paired with a dark red shirt with a sun on it, her black and white slip on vans completed the look. Danae wore dark blue skinny jeans with a light blue tank top, completed with a pair of solid white vans. Poppy sat there, she kept on her old pair of faded jeans and her favorite pair of converse. She changed her top to appease the beast that was boy crazy Mirabelle. Her cousins primped and pampered themselves until it was time to go. Poppy was sure that they had used enough hairspray that they had made helmets out of their own hair. Poppy's hair hung in braids and she had her backpack full of snacks, drinks, and of course her book. 

“Ready?” She asked as her cousins turned to her. They looked ridiculous, their clothing fit the situation but they had done their hair and makeup to the 9s. She thought that it was out of place, but then again she wasn’t sure she had ever seen any girls older than her who didn't always have their makeup done. It was at that moment that she decided that if she were to wear makeup, she wouldn't circle her entire eye with thick, black, linner. There was nothing wrong with it, she thought, it just wasn't for her. “Yep!” her two cousins chirped simultaneously. 

They went outside to their bikes. They had completely discarded them in the driveway, each of them leaning down to the one belonging to them up. Belle was the first to retrieve hers, when she stood up she noticed Ms. Nesbit walking her dog. “Perfect,” Mirabelle thought, she would get a picture of the day that she met her first love. 

“Hey, Ms. Nesbit, will you take a photo of us girls? It's for Grandma Watkins. We would really appreciate it.” With that the girls collected their bikes and paused in front of Poppy’s childhood home, smiling like absolutely nothing could go wrong that day. Little did Mirabelle know the events she was about to set in motion, nearly a decade in the future.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy meets a blond boy and a dark haired boy at the park. She is reading by a tree and they come out of the woods brushing dirt off of their hands. 
> 
> *Not beta read, and pretty short, I am so sorry.*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I know it has been a really long time, so sorry about that. Things are really really crazy for me right now in not the best way. Please know I am trying my best to get this story finished and will hopefully start another one here soon. If anyone has any ideas on where the story should go, drop a line! I am very much open for suggestions.

Poppy sat under a tree reading. Occasionally looking up to make sure that Mirabelle and Danae were close by. Her cousins were absolutely crazy for wanting to get to know these guys. They were all clearly older than them and Poppy got the sense that maybe they could be or are somewhat dangerous. Now she didn’t want to judge people by their appearances but she was. 

The two older girls laughed and talked and Mirabelle even reached out and lightly touched the boy who had introduced himself as Trevor, on the arm. His eyes light up at the touch, she noted. She scoffed, rolling her eyes and turning her attention back to her book. She felt bad for the prince in her book, the main female character had just ended things with him, and it seemed her attention was drifting to the prince’s best friend. 

She heard a rustling in the bushes almost directly behind her. She turned her head in annoyance wondering if someone was trying to scare her. Poppy wouldn't put it past the group of boys, again judging wholly on appearance. Her eyes narrowed at the bushes as she said “Come out of there, I can hear you, you can't scare me.” With that a tall blond boy and an even taller black haired boy emerged. The tall blonde boy spoke, “Ah, no we weren't trying to scare you, my friend and I were just out looking for something.” He plastered on an on, what she perceived to be an overly kind smile. She noticed that the other boy was whipping dirt off of his hands. They were hiding something. “Oh, well that's fine then.” She huffed and turned back to her book. 

“What are you reading?” The blond boy asked her. Poppy showed him the cover. He nodded, though he wasn’t sure what it was, he would look it up later when he got home. “Did you come here with those other girls? They are a bit older than you, how did you get roped into this?” He asked her. The dark haired boy stood stoically behind the blonde and didn't say anything. She narrowed her eyes at them not sure if she could trust them or not. “They are my cousins. They are looking after me this summer, even though I would much rather be home reading, they have to take me everywhere they go. My dad would have a cow though if he knew what they were up to now.” 

The boys exchanged a look. The dark haired one said “I don't blame him.” The blonde Nodded his agreement. She looked at them more skeptically now, worried that maybe she would have to call her dad and have him come and pick them up. No Poppy couldn't do that, they would never forgive her… Sometimes she was loyal to a fault. “What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked instead, it came out less harsh and more timid than she had meant it too. She was their “little” cousin but she would do anything to protect them. The blonde boy saw the fear slightly glinting in her eyes, he put on a front that he hoped was reassuring and said “Oh absolutely nothing, don't listen to this fellow.” He was looking for anything to change the subject when he noticed the bike dumped a few feet from the tree she was leaning against. “Is that yours?” He asked Poppy. She nodded slowly. “That's a pretty cool bike, do you know how to do any tricks on it?” 

Poppy shook her head, “we just use them to get around town, Danae has another year before she can drive and Mirabelle has to get her grades up before her parents will let her use their car.” 

Perfect, the blond boy thought. “I bet you we could teach you some pretty cool tricks. You could even show them to your friends if you all ever came over to this park without your cousins.” He said, trying to distract her from the comment that his big brooding friend had made earlier. He made a mental note to have a conversation with him later about not scaring children.


End file.
